While formulating powdered washing and cleaning agents containing bleaching agents no longer presents any problems nowadays, formulating stable, liquid washing and cleaning agents containing bleaching agents is still problematic. Accordingly, the customary absence of bleaching agent in liquid washing and cleaning agents means that stains that would normally be removed, in particular because of the bleach content, are frequently only inadequately removed. A similar problem exists with bleach-free color washing agents from which the bleaching agent is omitted so as to protect the dyes in the textiles and to prevent them from fading. In the absence of a bleaching agent there is the additional difficulty that rather than removing the stains, which would normally be removed by the bleaching agent, the washing process by contrast frequently even intensifies the stain and/or makes it more difficult to remove, a fact that is attributable not least to initiated chemical reactions consisting for example in the polymerization of certain dyes contained in the stains.
Such problems occur in particular with stains containing polymerizable dyes. These are mostly red- to blue-colored stains. The polymerizable substances are above all polyphenolic dyes, preferably flavonoids, in particular from the class of anthocyanidins or anthocyanins. The stains can be caused in particular by food products or drinks containing corresponding dyes. In particular, the stains can be marks from fruit or vegetables or red wine marks containing red and/or blue dyes, in particular polyphenolic dyes, above all those from the class of anthocyanidins or anthocyanins.
The international patent application WO 2010/069957 A1 describes washing agent compositions containing hydroxamic acids or hydroxamates, which can bear various residues such as substituted alkyl, alkenyl or alkyl ether groups at the N atom and at the carbonyl C atom.
The international patent application WO 2008/101909 describes the use of metal complexes with siderophore ligands having hydroxamic acid units as bleach catalysts for washing and cleaning agents.
Bleach-free washing agent compositions having a sequestering action and containing hydroxamic acids or hydroxamates with C5-21 alkyl chains at the carbonyl C atom and hydrogen or C1-6 alkyl chains at the N atom are known from the European patent application EP 0 388 389 A2.
The European patent application EP 0 384 912 A2 describes the use of hydroxamates as stabilizers for peroxidic bleaching agents in washing agents.
The use of branched hydroxamates bearing COOH substituents as builders and bleach stabilizers in washing and cleaning agents is known from the European patent application EP 0 695 289 B1.
Polyamidohydroxamates are known as iron chelators. Thus the international patent application WO 86/00891 A1 describes polymeric hydroxamic acids of the general formula
in which R denotes hydrogen or low alkyl and n denotes a number from 40 to 300, and the suitability thereof for treating medical disorders in humans and animals that are attributable to raised iron levels.
Surprisingly it has been found that the cleaning performance of the washing or cleaning agent in respect of stains containing polymerizable substances can be markedly improved through the use of polyamidohydroxamates.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.